Cricket chiefs feel time is right to take the secretary out to dinner

AUSTRALIAN cricket is asking itself what is more important - cash or kids - as it prepares to clinch a $400 million television rights deal.

Channel Nine are favourites to retain the international rights despite strong challenges from Channel 7 and 10 but this is the first time cricket has truly gone to the market for four decades.

Kerry Packer's death in 2005, just as the last deal was being inked in, has changed the dynamics of negotiations.

Packer's son James was not the only person scared of the media mogul.

Because Packer was so imposing, nervous Cricket Australia officials felt that talking to rival suitors about cricket rights while he was alive was like telling your wife you were taking your secretary out to dinner.

As innocent as it might have been it just wasn't worth the trouble.

Packer's death has seen CA shamelessly slap the "For Sale" sign on the rights and they will energetically canvas all bidders.

But Packer left one last crucial finger print on the deal which should be the Nine's trump card.

Always a man looking for an edge, he clinched the right to have the last bid.

It is likely to be last time CA ever offers this option but Nine will know to the last dollar what they have to pay to keep the rights they have held since the late 1970s.

It gives them a distinct advantage because if they can get close to what the others offers they will probably get over the line because of the simple virtues of continuity and bankability.

There are also fears as to how Seven, while an excellent sports broadcaster, would handle a clash of cricket with its other summer sport, tennis.

The interesting thing is what happens to the Big Bash.

Fox Sports (owned by News Limited, publisher of The Courier-Mail) are desperate to retain the product they helped to turn from a boutique operation into a robust rater responsible for the top 26 rating programs on their network since December 1.

Fox are expected to be the highest bidder but CA is asking itself whether it wants more money or the backing of a free-to-air network who may pay less but rate higher (only 30 per cent of Australian households have pay television).

The five-year rights for the Big Bash are expected to raise around $75 million, a stunning increase for CA given the last round of T20 domestic rights went for the equivalent of beer money.

CA is keen for the Big Bash to be available to as many new fans - particularly children - as possible to enable the sport to grow.

This brings commercial networks firmly into the frame and Channel 10, who are desperate for some live sport, will make a major play.

But the program is also seen as a neat fit on Fox who cherish its presence and proudly spruik it as a success story they helped to build.

The answer may be a compromise deal in which Fox keeps the rights and the finals are broadcast on free-to-air.

This would enable Fox to continue to use the Big Bash to drive subscriptions which would not be hurt if it lost or shared the finals so long as it retained the rest of the competition.

The last deal for the international matches was around $300 million for seven years. This one is expected to be around $400 million for five.

Cricket has noted that Australian Rules and rugby league got rises close to 100 per cent in their deals but cricket audiences have flatlined.

In the decade between 2000 and 2010 Channel Nine's cricket audience dropped by 24 per cent though big summers are coming up starting with next season's Ashes series.

Cricket is a valuable product but the negatives are that most of the action is played during the day and only a couple of matches fall in the official rating period.

The game will do well out of the next rights deal but has learnt that it must scrap for every dollar.

In a way it is a shame Packer is gone - he would have enjoyed the fight.